Let's start with the obvious. The mouse-man. It's an older guy, in a mouse suit. A white mouse suit. I took this into PS and colored it, to see if a brown or gray mouse suit would have heightened/diminished the impact of the picture. The consensus was, white mouse suit or no mouse suit. Why is he wearing goggles? And how is he keeping them on his face? Some kind of suction? Notice he is smoking a cigarette. I can't help but wonder if that's a post-coital cigarette, or just a "I hang out with melon-boy" cigarette.Next we have melon-boy. Notice he has no arms. He might have legs, or that might not be a body at all but some kind of bottle from which the melon-boy genie appears. Notice, too, that he is missing a nose. Probably for the best considering the dubious nature of mouse-man. What is the meaning of the melon on his head? Is it protective headgear of some sort? Will it keep the aliens from controlling his brain? Or is it merely decorative?

The title of the book is "Hurry up! Vol. 3". Volume three?! You mean there were two other volumes of this, and they sold well enough to warrant a third? Notice, too, that the book is hardcover. Hardcover, volume 3. Of "Hurry up!" featuring mouse-man and melon-boy. Volume 3 of a smoking man in a mouse suit and an armless, noseless boy with a melon on his head. There are two more books out there about a smoking man in a mouse suit and an armless, noseless melon boy.

This picture was lifted from a yahoo!japan auction. I went to yahoo!japan to search for this item, and could not find it! This implies that someone has purchased this item! Someone saw this item on yahoo! auctions and felt it was neccessary to own it! I admit, I would have felt the same. And yet, I am baffled that not only was it auctioned, but in fact sold!

And that leads to the most intriguing observation of all. Someone sat down at the table with a pencil and a piece of paper, and proceeded to draw a picture of an older man in a mouse suit. Thinking perhaps his expression belied the nature of the story within, the artist added goggles so as to mask the true nature of this fellow. But the drawing was missing something. It was too sparse. Perhaps, by adding an armless boy. There's quite a nose on the mouse-man, no need to add one to the boy. He looks a bit vulnerable. He is in need of some protective headgear. A melon should suffice nicely. And yet, there is still something the picture needs. Ahh yes. A cigarette. All good mouse-men smoke, as everyone knows.

Now, suppose that within the pages of this book lies the wisdom of the ages? Only those who had the good fortune to have purchased it would ever know. Perhaps when one reaches enlightenment, the meaning of the cover art will be clear. Perhaps finding the meaning in the cover art is enlightenment itself.Or, perhaps it is a dirty comic featuring a mouse-man and a melon-boy. Which might also be enlightening, but in a completely different manner.

You would not believe how much time we spent giggling hysterically over this picture and various theories thereof. And then I show it to my 14-year-old brother, because I figure if anybody would appreciate this sort of thing, a pubescent boy would, and he's all, "eh, maybe it's a cool book"... Maybe he's already enlightened.